Keronian Mystery Dungeon: Frog Style
by Meyoshi
Summary: The battle hardened Red Devil stumbles across a pink frog who claims nothing but the name Natsumi and the fact that she was once human. The two join forces to unlock the past and future, but in the shadows is a Pekoponian criminal who wants nothing more than to destroy both them and their world.


**Chapter 1: Yell to Make a Point. **

The room was small, cramped in both space and shadow. The solitary illumination came from a dingy lightbulb dangling slowly from the ceiling. The green frog beneath it paid no mind. He had work to do. Behind him sat a wooden desk stacked high with paper work, and in front of him stood a proud red frog whose stance spoke of nothing but rebellious irritation.

"Why do you keep killing the outlaws when it's not necessary?" The green frog sighed. He leaned against his chair, lacing his legs on top of the wooden desk. "You always kill them when we're supposed to hand them to the police."

"He deserved to die!" The red frog shouted. He slammed his hands into the desk with a sudden burst of aggression. The other frog fell off of his chair and onto his green ass with a yelp.

"Damn it Giroro," The green frog growled, getting back onto his feet. "I don't know what made you become so insubordinate. You are working for me and you should follow the rules."

His tone was still quiet, but rising in both anger and volume steadily. "You're not supposed to kill the outlaws! You're supposed to capture them and bring them here so we can give them to police officer Taruru!" The last words came in a shout as he slammed his own hands down. He hoped to have the same effect Giroro had, but, of course, being our beloved Sarge, he failed to do so.

Giroro countered his Sarge's dig with one of his own.

"The only reason I joined up was to do something and hope to find someone worthy of my level! You even said I would have a chance to fight someone like that if I joined your stupid guild!" Giroro retorted.

"I only killed the outlaw because he'd killed someone else! An eye for an eye. And a waste of time it was, too, Keroro. You've got to stop giving me these worthless jobs! Call me when you find a real S class mission!" Giroro didn't give Keroro a chance to respond to anything but his back as he stalked form the room.

"And that's all I have been giving you Giroro... You really need a partner who can deal with you... Too bad no one has survived more than five minutes."

X LATER X

Giroro stormed down the beach, sending rocks flying across the dunes before him.

"Stupid Keroro with his stupid guild, with his stupid fucking rules with his stupid superiority complex!" Giroro muttered to himself. "Maybe I should quit and travel on my own to find that worthy opponent..." He slit his eyes against the setting sun.

The waves lapped against the rocks soothingly- which only served to piss him off more.

"Stupid beach, hah!" Giroro flung himself onto the ground, crossing his arms over his knees for a moment before shoving himself back up and continuing. "I don't even know why I came here."

Another rock fell victim to Giroro's feet of fury. The frog followed it with his eyes as it came to rest next to a lump on the sand. He squinted. What was that? He stepped forward cautiously, and realized after a few steps that it was a fellow frog- a pink one.

A slow, evil grin crept its way across his face. Sarge had said to not kill outlaws, right? Well, that Keronian certainly didn't look like an outlaw, and he needed to exercise his rage on something.

As he got closer, he took a better look. With a jolt, he realized that his intended victim was a female and obviously unconscious. How could he properly anger manage if his victim was nothing but a defenseless girl?

It would be even less pleasant than hearing Keroro prattle on about himself.

"Hey, you," Giroro said, nudging at her with his foot. "Wake up!"

With a small moan, she rolled onto her back.

Her skin was smooth, a light shade of pink. Her hat was a brighter shade of her skin, and had what would appear to be almost pigtails to either side. Her hat and belly each had the symbol of a yellow sun.

Unconsciously, his eyes drank in her form. Her body was curvy enough to make any properly cold blooded Keronian man stare. Giroro gulped, forcing his eyes to her face. It was no better. Long lashes, moist skin, and lips that looked ever so soft.

"H-Hey w-wake up!" Giroro shook her again, internally punching himself. As he did so, he silently cursed himself. What the hell was he doing? A warrior was a warrior, not a lover! Besides, the girl was a Keronian, and therefore like any other Keronian girl. Stupid.

The girl weakly opened her eyes. She blinked twice at the man standing over her, then scrambled back with eyes wide as saucers. After a moment, however, she couldn't keep up the momentum and curled in on herself. She wrapped her arms around her head and mumbled in pain.

Through this, she kept a wary eye on Giroro.

Giroro rolled his eyes. "Good, you're awake." He crossed his arms lazily. "Now get up and head home."

The girl only stared at him.

He waited for a response. After all, who wouldn't be scared to speak if they saw him right now? After a moment, though, his patience ran out.

"Didn't you hear me? Now get up and HEAD HOME," Giroro barked.

The girl's features settled into a slow glare. "Who... or better yet... What are you?"

Giroro quirked an eyebrow. He appraised her for a moment, and then knelt to her level.

She pulled obviously back at his advance. The smirk this caused made the words he spoke sound all the more malevolent.

"Listen here, girlie. I am Giroro the Red Devil, the most dangerous Keronian you will ever meet." He allowed the final word to slow into a threatening growl, maintaining his smirk.

"A Keronian? What the hell is that?" the girl asked, totally unfazed. She moved to adjust her pigtails, and noticed her hands were pink.

"What?! N-No way!" She squeaked. The frog scrambled to her feet, bumping carelessly into Giroro. He tottered for a moment, but gravity won, and he landed on his butt with a grunt. The girl ignored him. She made a beeline toward the still waters of a nearby tide pool.

She stopped at the edge and stared at her reflection.

Behind her, Giroro stood up painfully. "What the hell was that for?!" He shook off the pain and stomped over.

Girl or not, he wouldn't let her treat the Red Devil like this! He had a reputation to upkeep if he was to find that worthy opponent!

His hand shot forward to seize the girl's shoulder. "You need to apologize right no-" His voice broke off. The girl was trembling.

He smirked again, not lowering his hand. She was scared. How sweet.

The frog felt something on his arm, saw a pink hand clasped firmly around it. Before he could react, he felt a yank. Then, he was in the air.

As he tumbled in the air, head over feet, he caught the girl's expression. It was one of blind fury.

He landed in the water hard, assuredly terrifying any froggy fishes beneath him. The sudden cold shocked Giroro for a moment, but he regained his battle-trained senses quickly. He surfaced and shook the water out of his eyes, then stared. He was almost fifty feet from the shore. He could barely see the pink frog in the twilit gloom. The girl could throw. Well, for a girl at least.

She had a loud voice, too, because the second she saw him surface she cupped her hands to her mouth and bellowed:

"DON'T YOU EVER TOUCH ME AGAIN!"

Giroro stared for a moment longer, then sank in amazement beneath the waters.

Who was she? No one had ever caught him by surprise before, yet she'd thrown him like a Pekoponian toy. He had to hand it to her, the girl had some power. And some body to go along with it.

He shook the water out of his ears, then free styled back to shore.

"Well. Look who came back for more," She greeted.

Giroro's newfound respect evaporated in an instant.

"I wasn't ready!" He denied, trying to defend himself. Even to him, it sounded alarmingly close to a whine.

"I expected you to come up with a better excuse," The girl taunted.

Giroro narrowed his eyes. "Just who are you?"

The girl hesitated, appeared to think. After a moment she looked down.

"... Natsumi." She said quietly. Her attitude had vanished.

The sudden change caught Giroro off guard.

"Natsumi? What a strange name... What colony are you from?"

He glanced at her eyes, noticed they were a rich, chocolate brown. He blinked, forcing himself back to reality. _Down_ soldier.

She avoided his gaze. "I-I don't r-remember."

Giroro's expression turned incredulous. Throwing him fifty feet was bad enough, but she had the guts to lie to him too?

"What do you mean you don't remember?! You think I'll believe that?" Giroro asked.

"I never asked you to believe me!" Her previous tone returned like a whip, one fierce enough to make Giroro flinch.

Giroro was astonished. No one ever acted this way towards him. No one ever had the courage. Well that was excepting Keroro, but come on. Keroro.

With another flinch, he realized she was still talking.

"I only remember my name and that I used to be human." She said. Her voice had returned to being quiet, but this time she sounded sure. Not scared in the least.

Giroro chuckled quietly.

Natsumi glared at him. "Why are you laughing?"

Giroro couldn't hold back his laughter. "A h-human?! A Pekoponian?" The frog shook his head. "Now that's funny."

He glanced up and noticed a fist heading for the place between his eyes. He sidestepped and shoved the girl as she passed, then watched with amusement as she landed face first in the sand.

Natsumi sat up immediately, spit out a mouthful of tiny pebbles, and glared at Giroro.

"You are way out of your league, Pekoponian," He grinned. "Us Keronian-"

A foot caught him in the face. Giroro grunted and stumbled backwards. Another blow to the chest later, and he was on his back in the sand with an extremely angry pink lump sitting on top of him.

She grabbed him roughly by the ear flaps, knees digging into his chest.

"So, do you still find it funny now that this 'Pekoponian' can do this?" She grabbed a fistful of ear and _yanked._

Giroro gasped. "I-I'm sorry," He choked out, blinking back tears of sheer agony. He hadn't even known he could say those words- much less that he would. Ever.

"You... Y-You better be," Natsumi said. Her voice hitched. She rolled off of Giroro and stood facing away from him.

"Ahh... Natsumi?" Giroro rolled to his feet, one hand rubbing at his ear. "Are…you crying?"

"I-It's not what you think! I'm just... I'm so confused! I'm not a frog." She scrubbed her face harder. "People will think it's crazy. People will think I'm crazy. But I'm not a frog! I'm a human!" Her crying turned into sobbing.

There was a pause as Giroro weighed his options. Believe the racially confused pink frog, or go back to Keroro, who undoubtedly had another stupid lecture waiting for him.

"I believe you," Giroro said quietly.

Natsumi looked at him with suspicion for a moment. She took one last shaky breath, and then sat down on the sand.

Giroro sighed. She hadn't said that she trusted him, but he had a feeling that this little concession was the best he was going to get right now.

There they sat, two strangers, as the last of the light fled the sky.

Giroro wanted to say something. It was against protocol, both Keronian and his own, but-. But. Screw it, he was asking. Quietly.

"Why don't you come and join me? Become my partner," Giroro muttered, half hoping she wouldn't hear.

His answer was silence. Giroro glanced over. "Natsum-?" She fell onto his shoulder. Giroro froze in shock, staring at her. "Natsumi?" His answer was a quiet moan. She was completely asleep.

Giroro almost found himself entranced by her form again before he snapped himself out of it. Think, soldier. What would a warrior do in a time like this? The obvious option, of course, would be to merely leave her there. It would be simple, no trouble, and it wasn't like he'd ever have to see her again.

That last was precisely why he scooped her up with something almost resembling delicacy and began carrying her princess style towards the barracks.

X LATER X

Giroro's eyebrows quirked in irritation. That was the sixth frog he'd seen faint. Some had screamed, some had run, some had merely stared in shock, but he was sure he could hear all of them whispering behind him. He was sure they were following him. And of course, Giroro, the Red Devil, could hear every word they were saying.

"Is that the Red Devil?! The one who always kills the outlaws he's assigned to?!" A member of his personal paparazzo muttered to another.

"That can't be him! He'd never carry such a beautiful girl like that!" Another replied.

The first snorted. "Who would let him?

"Is this a sign that the world is about to end?!"

"Someone save that poor girl!"

"No way! 'A warrior is not a lover'! It's something he always shouts."

"I like pie!"

"Maybe he drugged her!"

"I heard that he eats frogs like us."

"Run away!"

Giroro knitted his brows together and rounded on the people tailing him.

"Shut up! Haven't you ever seen someone being carried before? Go mind your own damn business!" Giroro yelled.

The look in his eyes cleared the space behind him in seconds. He glared after them for a moment, then kept moving. Stupid frogs.

Giroro continued on his way, giving anyone who more than glanced at him his parented death stare. A few more frogs fainted along his route this way, but hey. He couldn't have them tarnishing his reputation.

He could almost feel the rumors as they began forming, though.

He arrived at the guild tent not a moment too soon. Giroro scowled up at their mascot, shaped and colored like his Sergeant's idiotic head. It almost seemed to mock him as he passed. He glanced at it and the girl in his arms a few times before entering.

As he entered the front office, he spotted one of Keroro's secretaries. She glanced at him with the slightest bit too much interest.

"If you breathe a word of this to Keroro, you will regret it." The words were harsh.

The secretary froze, color draining from her face. She whipped her attention back to her computer screen, doing her best to not shake.

Giroro shook his head, loading himself and Natsumi into the elevator that would lead to his room. Sometimes you had to yell to make a point.


End file.
